quote:
Originally posted by x:
I'm a former violinist and my best friend is a concert violinist in a family of professional cellists. Love the sound of the violin, it's the most expressive instrument by far after the human voice. I was at the level where I could play Sibelius, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Mendelssohn, Prokofiev 1st, Shostakovitch A Minor concerti and all of Bach's Sonatas and Partitas from memory so i like to think I was pretty good

I love a story I heard once at a seminar about a boy who was came from a poor family and did mediocre in school. He wanted to do better, but for whatever reason, couldn't get motivated to do better. He wanted to do better so he could please his dad, but felt like he was in a conundrum.

One day he watched the paper boy come by to deliver the paper. He remembered that the paper boy's family was not rich, but instead was much like his own. Yet all the kids in the paper boy's family did well in school. The boy wanted to find out why this was, so he asked the paper boy if he could go over to his house for a meal. He and the paper boy became friends.

The boy noticed that after the meal all of the kids rushed to get out their instruments to play together. He thought that this was the only difference between himself and the paper boy.

The boy asked his father to buy him a violin. The paper boy taught him to play. They'd spend hours playing together.

After a while the teacher called the boy's father in and told him of his sons remarkable progress in school. The boy had actually received some recognition for academic progress. The teacher asked what he'd done. The father said, "Well nothing... except I did buy him a violin..."

quote:
Originally posted by x:
The Einstein Factor actually claims that when some people listened to Mozart for a while, their IQ points went up temporarily. Interesting I guess.
I find from experience that the smartest musicians and smartest people in general listen to Bach, not Mozart. Mozart's music is so well laid out it's unreal but for true musical genius you have to go with the master and that's Johann Sebastian Bach. Stunning musical mind! Rivalled only by Webern and maybe Bartok, but much more fun to listen to than either [/B]

I recently found a collection of Bach's paritas and sonatas played by Sigiswald Kuijken. They are incredible. I think I totally agree about the superiority of Bach. I've only begun to play, actually less than a year ago. I really love it. It's very expressive. I hope to play in some amateur ensembles as I improve.

x, thanks for your comments. You've given me/us much to think about.